Decker

High praise indeed from the Indie-Games-pimping podcaster who never even got around to trying Rotor'scope.

I've watched both those videos and still have no idea how music affects gameplay. Is it just cool music in the background, or does music play an important part in the actual gameplay like Lumines, Chime or Groov?

Decker

I stand corrected, as you did check out Rotor'scope, superfro. I tried and bought Tunescape. I sort of like it and for 80 points, there's no real way you could go wrong. It's very vibrant and cool looking. I don't think it's all that much fun, though. I like the first two worlds alright, but then when they give you the "ball & chain" mechanic in the third, it kind of falls apart for me. It's not like you're shooting anything, all you do in the game it catch and avoid space debris -- that's fine, but to suddenly make it so frustrating to do so, to make it become an indirect control mechanic seems to rob you of the precision and also ruin the fun. Anyway, that's my long-winded run-on sentence of a take. Still a happy purchase at 80 points, but not nearly as head-over-heels for it as you are.

UncleGramps

I tried Tunescape and just wasn't feeling it. I didn't feel like I was really doing all that much - seemed a little too simple.

Then again, I enjoyed both Baby Maker Extreme and Wayne the Brain enough to spend $1 on each, so I may not be the best judge.

superfro

I'm a dork for music games, and especially ones that I can use my own music on. I'm still having much fun with it. I don't sit and play for hours, but I've probably played a track or two ever time I've had my Xbox on since last week.

Decker - I agree with you on the tethered stage. It seems out of place. I don't go back to that one very often at all. Luckily it's just the one stage.

Did anybody ever check out Pew Pew Pod from a few weeks ago?

slop101

Shoot-1Up is fucking awesome, and worth ten times the 90 points they're charging.

marginal

I got Pew Pew Pod, based on your podcast/recommendation. It's really well done, and I like it... but much like Geometry Wars, I'm just not very good at it. The "Simon Says" mode is a grea idea, though. For a buck, it's quite the deal.

The one Indie Game I keep going back to over and over is Globe Clicker. But that's probably because I'm a dork.

superfro

Agreed. The Simon Says mode on PPP is a bunch of fun.

I have never checked out Globe Clicker. Just looked it up and I'm pretty sure my wife is going to flip over it. Thanks!

UncleGramps

Yeah, I like music games too, but the demo didn't give a great impression of how the music affects the gameplay. Compare it to something like Audiosurf, and it just feels like a visualizer where you move a circle to pick up some shapes and avoid other shapes while a song plays. If you enjoy it, more power to ya, but it just wasn't my bag.

Rotor'scope is probably my favorite Indie Game yet, though I have trouble remembering all of the ones I've played.

superfro

How dare you!



Agreed. It definitely doesn't have the same level of involvement that I get with a lot of other musically integrated games. I don't really know why I like it so much. Something just clicks for me with it.

Decker

I think the Joystiq article I posted in the XBLA thread about independent publishers and XBLA pretty much indirectly explained why Rotor'scope isn't an XBLA game. If an independent developer wants to be in the XBLA, they must have a publisher. If they want MS to publish them, they must agree to only ever have the game on MS formats (i.e. 360 + PC). So if the developers of Rotor'scope want the game on XBLA, they must essentially agree to never have the game come out on the PS3 ( totally understandable), the DS (where I think it could be successful) or even the iphone (which I think is a little unreasonable -- I might actually re-buy it if it hit the iphone). Given that choice, I think I can appreciate why they didn't bring the game to XBLA despite the high polish and XBLA-quality presentation.

xmiyux

I still swear by Blow as the best Indie game i have seen on the marketplace.

superfro

If you ever enjoyed any of the old NES RPG classics (Final Fantasy, Dragon Warrior, Ultima, etc) I highly recommend checking out Breath of Death VII: The Beginning. It's $1 and a lot of retro awesomeness!

chuckd21

So far I've played three XBIndie games: Shoot 1up, Baby Maker Extreme and I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES!!!1. Each one wound up with my money.

I wish these games had online leaderboards though. If they did I'd keep going back to them.

chuckd21

Is it wacky? I'm in the mood for wacky.

superfro

Hmmm...not sure if it's wacky. It is humorous at times, but really only in the way that it's playing on old RPG elements.

chuckd21

There's a text adventure game up now if you can believe it. It's called Text Zedventure. Zombies. Only a buck, and proceeds go to charity.

Liver&Onions

Miner Dig Deep is a pretty awesome little game, worth the buck IMO...

PixyJunket

I reviewed Ace Gals Tennis, it'll be up tonight.

Short Version: It's pretty hard to condemn a $1 game but a small amount of effort (local multi-player and an actual career mode) would have made it a $3-$5 game.

pinata242

I have no problems with doing just that

mhg83

this is well worth $1:

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UncleGramps

Figured I'd copy Pixy's post from the XBLA thread over here:

It's also known as Mamotte Knight. I played it this morning and enjoyed it enough to buy the full version when the demo ended. It's got a nice NES-era aesthetic, and it's got some tower defense elements, although there aren't any automated towers. Instead, the character you control does most of the work, and can man a catapult for "tower-style" attacks. Definitely try out the demo - despite the Japanese title, everything is in English (well, Engrish, but close enough).

PixyJunket

Actually, the game's English name is "Protect Me, Knight!"

English site with "NES" box art:
http://www.ancient.co.jp/~game/mamotte_knight/en.html

Japanese site with "Famicom" box art:
http://www.ancient.co.jp/~game/mamot...ght/index.html

I love how awful the US version box art is, it really captures that absolute fear of the anime art style US companies had back then.. or was just the terrifying fear of harming the precious masculinity of little boys with anything that wasn't half-naked, muscle bound tough men on a game cover, which still exists today? Hilarious, either way.

Anyway, I got to play it last night, only for a few minutes, but I could tell it's just going to be an amazing game, especially with multi-player. I must admit that I'm not really a big tower defense fan but this game doesn't share TOO much with that style, since you're basically in control of a character and not just placing stationary units everywhere.

This is apparently the first game in a series of retro inspired games Ancient plans to make for XBLIG.

PixyJunket

Also, "JoyJoy" is a REALLY solid Geometry Wars derivative for 80 space points.

I should have my review of it up tonight.

chuckd21

I hear that Murphid is worth your time.

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superfro

I know folks get burnt on twin stick shooters, but it is really great.